Kaduna reforms boosting revenue, healthcare, education — Uba Sani

Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, says his administration’s fiscal and institutional reforms have improved service delivery, strengthened revenue generation and expanded access to healthcare and education across the state.

The governor stated this on Wednesday while receiving members of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), led by its Chairman, Dr Mohammed Bello Shehu, at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna.

The commission is currently touring states as part of consultations to review Nigeria’s horizontal revenue allocation formula.

Sani said prudent financial management, strategic investments and institutional reforms had placed Kaduna on a stronger fiscal footing, enabling the government to deliver better public services.

According to him, the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has grown significantly through reforms that modernised tax administration and improved transparency.

He attributed the improvement to initiatives such as Project CRAFT and the PAYKADUNA platform, which he said simplified revenue collection, reduced leakages and encouraged voluntary tax compliance.

The governor said increasing public confidence in government had also contributed to improved tax compliance, as residents were more willing to pay taxes when they saw visible improvements in public services.

On healthcare, Sani said the government had upgraded one Primary Healthcare Centre in each of the state’s 23 local government areas into a Centre of Excellence, procured modern medical equipment and ambulances, and recruited more health workers while improving their welfare.

He also highlighted progress in the education sector, noting that Kaduna had achieved near-equal enrolment of boys and girls in schools through programmes such as the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) and the Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROOSC) initiative.

The governor disclosed that the number of out-of-school children had dropped from an estimated 535,000 in 2023 to 187,720 based on the state’s latest household mapping exercise.

He said the gains were driven by sustained investments, including allocating 26.5 per cent of the state budget to education, effective utilisation of Universal Basic Education Commission intervention funds, implementation of the World Bank-supported Better Education Service Delivery for All programme, expansion of school feeding and free education initiatives, and the consolidation of schools in insecure communities into safer locations.

Sani reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to strengthening fiscal discipline and ensuring that public resources translate into measurable development outcomes.

He also commended RMAFC for its support to sub-national governments through revenue mobilisation, fiscal oversight and institutional reforms aimed at improving governance and service delivery.